We cover so many aspects of real estate marketing here on our blog and today I thought I’d discuss a pretty important topic: How to NOT break the law while marketing. Sounds pretty serious, right? Well, it is.

So, here are 5 resources I recommend for free photos.

#1 Pixabay

Pixabay provides over 630,000 gorgeous high-res images that are all released under the creative commons license so you can be confident when using photos from this site. You can browse by category to speed up the selection process and each image also includes copyright information so you know exactly what you do, and don’t, need to do to use the photo.

You do need to create an account to have access to the images, but it’s free!

#2 Magdeleine

This site works a little different than Pixabay. Magdeleine functions more as a content aggregator and selects images from other free resources, so you may have even more options to choose from than Pixabay, but there’s a catch. Because Magdeleine is curating content from third-parties, each photo will have different licensing. That said, you can search by license to make sure that the images you’re using are truly free, no strings attached.

#3 DesignerPics

DesignerPics.com offers images with blogging in mind. They also all fall under the creative commons license. The site creator Jeshu John is a web designer and developer who actually takes all of the photos himself and adds new ones daily! While photo attribution isn’t required for personal or commercial use, Jeshu does mention that users are free to credit him if they want to spread the word about his website and mission to create free photos, which we think is pretty cool!

#4 Skitterphoto

Skitterphoto also offers a unique browsing experience for image-seekers because all of the free images are photographed by Skitterphoto creators. They’ve got some really fun and remarkable images to choose from and you can be pretty sure that you won’t see the same free photos used by other real estate agents. When you click on an image, you may often see a little caption that details a little bit about the photo and the experience the photographer had taking it. These personal stories definitely add something special to choosing your images!

#5 New Old Stock

We’re getting a little niche here, but this site is just too cool not to share. New Old Stock offers actual vintage and historical photos that have been collected from public archives and they’re free of copyright restrictions. The site is hosted on Tumblr, so you won’t have the same search options as with the other 4 sites, but at least one photo is uploaded every day and you never know what inspiration you might find from this one of a kind site!

Bonus:

#6 Negative Spaces

Negative space provides free stock photos, but what makes it a stand out for me is that you can search for photos specifically that have negative space either on the right or left side of the image. This is perfect for adding text to the photo.

Don’t forget about Canva! If you keep up with our blog, I know you’ve read one or two posts about Canva. Canva is also free and lets you create custom designs for literally any marketing materials or digital platform you can think of. They offer both free and paid background, image and text options, but you can also upload your own images. This way, all you have to do is select the perfect images from one of the websites above, upload it to Canva and then you can create a custom image for your post. Share that image on Facebook, Pinterest and all your social networks and you’re good to go!

Why does this matter?

What we’re talking about here are free real estate stock photo websites that help you avoid copyright infringement. We all know better than to copy and paste someone else’s content in a blog post and claim it as our own, but what about images?

Photos and infographics add an insane amount of value to blogs, but the fact of the matter is that if you didn’t take the photo yourself or design the graphic, it’s not yours. While it’s become all too common to just use photos from a Google image search, it doesn’t mean it’s the best practice, or even legal.

The same goes for social media and sure it’s easy to get away with sharing other people’s content as your own, but it’s still something you should do your best to avoid. After all, creating and sharing original content can only help you stand out from your competition and succeed in the real estate game.

Finding the perfect images to accompany your blog posts can seem time consuming, so I totally understand the need to get quality images fast, but as a real estate agent you’ve already got enough on your plate without having to worry about getting hit for copyright infringement. And really, avoiding this is easy and will save you a lot of time.

There are so many services that provide free photos and I’ve picked out 5 that you can start using today, but first let’s talk a little about copyright infringement and what it actually means.

When someone takes an original photo or designs an image, they own the rights. So, when a person uses that creator’s content without permission it becomes a copyright infringement.

Now, it’s a little more complex than that especially considering that you may be able to get away with using images on your own blog without consent under the Fair Use Doctrine. This allows some wiggle room by placing certain exceptions on the copyright. Images used for educational purposes may be covered by the fair use section of the Copyright Act, but this is really subjective and you’re honestly better off looking for pre-approved images to begin with.

A quick note about free photos – license terms still apply to stock photos. They will typically fall under creative commons and this allows users to copy, distribute and even edit the images without needing permission from the creator.

Copyright Infringement:

Images You Can and Can’t Share on Your Blog

This post is not legal advice. I insist you consult a lawyer for personalized advice regarding your specific situation. I’ve researched this information before writing, but you may not rely upon it as legal advice. You should regard this article as intended for entertainment purposes only.